1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic device and, more particularly, to a portable electronic device including two bodies formed such that one body can be slidably moved with respect to the other body via a magnetic unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally mobile terminals are a type of electronic devices that have a communication module for wirelessly transmitting and receiving radio waves to allow a user to perform communication while traveling. Mobile terminals can be divided into bar type mobile terminals, folder type mobile terminals and slide type mobile terminals, among others, according to its mechanical form. Bar type mobile terminals are formed as having only one body, and the folder type mobile terminals have two bodies that are rotatably connected about a hinge portion. Slide type mobile terminals are constructed such that one body is slidably moved between a first position and a second position to expose or cover at least a portion of the other body.
As seen in FIG. 1, a related art slide type mobile terminal includes a first body 10, a second body 20, and a slide module 30 located between the first and second bodies 10 and 20. The slide module includes a slider 31 and a slide base 32. While not shown in FIG. 1, the slider 31 and the slide base 32 are combined with and/or connected to the first and second bodies 10 and 20, respectively. The slider 31 and the slide base 32 are connected to be slidable with respect to each other, and consequently, the first and second bodies 10 and 20 are also slidably connected.
A spring 33 connects the slider 31 and the slide base 32 and provides elastic force to assist in slidably opening and closing the second body 20 with respect to the first body 10. When the user slidably moves the second body 20 beyond a certain interval towards either the open position or closed position, sliding of the second body 20 assisted by the elastic force of the spring 33 over the remaining interval.
As described above, the slide module 30 allows the first and second bodies 10 and 20 to slide (or move) with respect to each other. However, because slide modules generally have a thickness of about 0.6 mm to 2.5 mm, the size of the slide module hampers the ability to reduce the overall size (thickness) of a mobile terminal.